Voter Protection in Massachusetts

So I’m a volunteer lawyer assigned to election protection here in the land of the bean and the cod. Thinking about dirty tricks, voter suppression and the importance of maintaining a perfect demeanor on the job, and as I was pumping gas today, a cheerful man in work clothes, filling his landscaping truck, asked me who I thought would win: Elizabeth Warren or Scott Brown. I said, truthfully, that I was sick of the subject. Undeterred, he asked me if I knew what kind of a car Warren drives, and I said no. “A Jeep Cherokee!” he said happily, and waited for my reaction. “Um, sounds about right,” I said, blankly. He gave me an odd look and left. Then it hit me. Cherokee! Duh!

Sometimes I think I have a touch of Asperger’s. Racial insults fly right over my head. Years ago I got dragged to South Boston to help counter-demonstrate against some organized racists at a rally. There were all these scrawny white kids wearing baseball caps and some of them were holding signs saying “One man, one woman.” Since I had gone with a delegation from the ACLU, I turned to the legal director and asked if there were voting rights issues in the rally. He chuckled and told me quietly that those were anti-gay signs.Â I felt like Homer Simpson– d’ho!Â I am not quick, that’s for sure.